Alternative
by Sezu
Summary: Instead of rushing, the first boy waited. Instead of leaving, the second boy listened. Instead of being lucky, the third boy was caught.


Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichiro.

* * *

Sabo pressed himself against the old shabby building as he peeked from behind it. A seagull landed nearby with a fish in its mouth. It swallowed it before any other bird could come after it, demanding an easy meal. The ship in the distance grew larger and larger, and so did the crowd of people that had come to see one of its passengers. Sabo retreated fully back behind his hiding place and sat down. His little boat was waiting for him, but he had decided not to rush. His parents were out there, and if they saw him they would definitely send someone after him. So he waited as well.

The people's chattering carried all the way to the place he was waiting in, but he couldn't tell exactly what they were talking about. Of course he had a guess: the Celestial Dragon. Anyone who had come here today had come because of him. They wanted to see something special, something they normally wouldn't see. Even if Sabo himself wasn't that interested, at least the Celestial Dragon provided him a chance to escape his daily life, a life he hadn't chosen for himself but that had nonetheless fallen upon him on his birth. He would miss Ace and Luffy, but one day they would leave as well and they could meet again, that time as pirates. Free to go where ever they willed, free do whatever they willed, and no one would be able to stop them. He had waited this moment for so long, and even if he itched to leave right now on this very second, he didn't leave the spot he was on. He didn't want to be seen. This way he would hopefully gain all the distance he needed between him and his parents. They would likely return home in the night. Then it would be too late for them to leave after him, because the sea was vast, there would to too much to search. They would try but Sabo would be a free man, never to be imprisoned again.

The huge ship slid to the harbor and drawbridge was lowered on the side Sabo couldn't see. He heard people gasp and talk to the ones with them in hushed voices. Then the cheering started, and Sabo assumed their "honored" guest had shown himself to the people he most likely thought were just mere ants that he could and would crush if they happened to cross his way.

Sabo felt the excitement inside him grow as his moment of departure grew closer. His eyes would've been glued on his skiff had it been in his sigh. Now he just barely tried to slow his breathing and waited. The feeling of festival could be felt all the way to where he was, and even if it was all put up for the Celestial Dragon it wasn't that hard to just close his eyes and imagine it was all for him. He would get to leave, of course he felt joyous.

The sound of the people on the harbor started to fade further away as most of them went to follow the Celestial Dragon to wherever it was that he was going to. But even if there weren't many around now, Sabo still decided to wait. He couldn't be seen, not now, not this close to his most awaited moment.

He waited even after he thought it was all silent.

After even the echoes of the people's voices had faded he peeked from behind the corner and looked. There was no one in sight, he was there all alone. He sneaked away from his hiding place, looking around just in case someone would show up. No one did and he reached his destination. He jumped in to his boat and threw his bag on the bottom of it. He raised the sail and the wind immediately caught to it and started taking him farther and farther from the island he had grown up on, from the island his brothers still were on.

He might've felt a little wistful, leaving without saying goodbye to his brothers face-to-face, but he would meet them again. Mostly he felt happiness because his journey as a free man had finally begun.

* * *

"Let me go!" Ace demanded, fighting to get free from his two crewmates clutches. "He was a member of my division!"

But they wouldn't let go, though they did have some trouble holding him down. They had kept telling him to let it be just this once. Even old man said it. But he couldn't just leave it. A member of his division had killed a brother. There was no way he would just let that man off the hook. He had to go after him and revenge. And it wasn't all even about revenge, it was justice – even if they were pirates, they had their code. If he didn't go after him, then -

"Ace," Whitebeard spoke, "let it slip this once. I have a weird feeling about this."

Ace bit his lip. That man had spit on his father's face, there was no way he could ignore it. But still… He looked at his father, and his crewmates let go of his hands since he wasn't fighting anymore. "Old man. He killed his _brother_. I really can't let him just walk away with it."

"Wait for the right time," Whitebeard said. "There is something wrong in this. You shouldn't go, not yet."

Ace clenched his hands into a fist. He looked up to this old man, and Whitebeard knew what he was talking about, that much the younger one could tell, even when his mind was otherwise blinded by rage. Ace forced this rage down just enough to think a little more clearly. It wasn't easy, but then a thought of his comrades, brothers, coming after him to take him back only to get hurt in the process crossed his mind, and he took a deep breath. He didn't want that, he didn't want them to get hurt, or far worse, die because he was reckless and acting on the moments feeling like he often did. "What… what do you think he's planning?"

Whitebeard took a sip from his bottle. "I don't know but it obviously isn't anything good. We should lie back for now and see."

The thoughts in Ace's head were going this way and that and it was hard to make head and tale of them. Maybe just this once he should think before leaping. He sighed and nodded. After that he headed under the deck because he needed time to think. He sat down on his own bed and then lay down on his back, watching the ceiling. Now that his anger had died down some, he felt incredibly sad. Thatch and he had been close, like everyone on this ship. He had never lost a brother before, though it had been close back when he had still been a kid. The thought brought in the memories of the fire and the fear he had felt over not of himself but his brother dying. But Luffy had lived, like had everyone else.

Ace got up and went for his bag. He opened it and took out a worn out letter and unfolded it. It was the one Sabo had sent him before he had left. He was now sailing somewhere out there. They hadn't met each other yet but Ace knew Sabo was still alive and well. His name appeared on the newspaper every now and then, but not as often as his. He had managed to find nakama that were another family for him, and Ace was glad for him.

_It's odd but our brotherhood is my treasure._

Ace read the lines and found himself smiling. He felt the same, his brothers were his treasure. Not just the ones on the same ship he was, but the ones out there on their own ships and adventures as well. He didn't feel the need to go after Teach so strongly now because he didn't want to worry his brothers by doing something he wouldn't be able to take back.

He sat on the floor, crying over what he had lost and smiling over what he still had.

* * *

In Water Seven everything went downhill. Not only was Merry announced done for and unfixable, but Robin left them without a single word about her reasons, and Usopp had gone as well. The storm was rising and the night was falling and the Straw Hats were getting closer to the bottom.

Nami and Chopper were both running around the city, trying to find their comrades that had just lost their battle against Lucci and Kaku. But they were nowhere to be found and they were running out of time. Nami shouted out Luffy's name and Chopper yelled for Zoro right next to her. At some point they went separate ways to cover even more ground. Nami somehow ended to where Kokoro was standing in a higher ground, and sure enough she soon spotted their captain, squeezed between two buildings. Without thinking any further she started running to his direction. He had to know why Robin had left! He had to know they could go after her and save her!

Soon it wasn't just Luffy who was free but Zoro as well, and just in time as a huge wave crashed down to the lower city. They looked wide eyed at the destruction it left behind.

"Straw Hat Luffy," came the familiar voice from somewhere behind them and they all turned around.

"You!" Nami said. The man in front of them was the very same man they had met in Mock Town and the man who had come after Luffy's and Zoro's heads just before they had gone up to Skypiea.

Both Luffy and Zoro took fighting stances in front of their two nakama. This time they knew what this man was after, and they knew they had no choice but to fight. And fight they did until the bitter end.

When Luffy was sitting chained in his cell he wondered how his crewmates were doing and where they were. He knew Zoro had been taken to this place as well, but he didn't know where in here he was or if he was even –

Of course he was still alive, even if he had been frightingly still and silent after their battle and on their way here – wherever this here was. Zoro wouldn't die like that, he was strong. The two of them would get out of here and then they would continue adventuring. And they would have to beat that man's ass while at it.

Luffy wondered where Robin was now, if she was safe. He hoped so, and he secretly hoped Usopp was alright as well. His thoughts also wandered to his two brothers who were out there on the sea. Luffy hoped they wouldn't have to rescue him again. He didn't need their help, he was strong enough without them giving him a hand this time around. He had to be. He tried to ignore the fact that he hadn't been strong enough to protect himself and Zoro, and they had been taken here because he had been too weak.

Garp had visited him earlier – he couldn't say if it had been today or days ago because there was no way of telling time in here, he slept when he felt like it and he was hungry all the time. The marine had sat down in front of his cell and spoken to him, told him how he had wished that both Luffy and Ace had become strong marines instead of pirates. It was too late for that; Luffy had become a pirate anyway and now he wouldn't be able to escape the fate that followed many of those who chose the same path to sail. "They'll execute you," Garp had said, though there had been no need for those words. The marines would kill all the dangerous pirates they caught, there was no way around it.

Luffy's last day was getting closer but it wasn't his own death that worried him. It was him nakama he wanted to be safe. He had tried asking about Zoro but he hadn't received any answers besides silence, no matter how much he had shouted. The silence had been an ominous answer because it could mean anything. It could've meant the swordsman had already been executed or it could've meant he had been dead all along. But it could've also meant he was still alive and maybe not even here anymore, and that's what Luffy hoped for the most.

He was sure that the nakama that had been left on Water Seven were safe. That Blackbeard-guy hadn't been after them because they didn't have bounties on their heads yet. One day they would, Luffy knew, because they were strong and strong people always had a bounty.

On the day before his scheduled execution he got news on one of his friends. He didn't know the huge man who delivered them but the other prisoners were afraid of him. Well, he _had_ seen him before, but he had forgotten his name. "We've brought Robin here," he was told. Luffy was angry but unable to fight. He kept pulling his chains and shouting for them to let his nakama go. He kept doing that until he was exhausted and even long after that. He had to get free to save his nakama. He couldn't just sit here and wait! He had to go now!

But he couldn't run away, and the next day he would be taken away to the Marineford and he would regret being too weak to save those so precious to him.

* * *

Of course, Sabo nor Ace would just stand idly by as their brother is being executed, but that's another story entirely...

Oh, yeah, as usual, I'd be very thankful if you informed me of any typos and grammatic mistakes you found and I missed while reading this through. :3


End file.
